Avoid These Traps When Working with an Editorial Consultant
In my 25-plus years of experience working as an employee in consulting firms and as a consultant, I have learned a lot about the business side of the work.
I have been lucky to work alongside people who are passionate about their work, take pride in their mission, and know how to promote teamwork.
Yet, nothing runs perfectly and when it doesn’t, I think of these common traps that people can fall into!
TRAP NO. 1: Falling Hard for the Lowest Price
It may make perfect sense to engage a less experienced editor who begets a lower price tag if you have a project that requires fewer skills or less expertise.
For more complex jobs, selecting an experienced editorial consultant who charges what they are worth is the best way to go. The benefits to you are as follows:
Experienced writers and editors know the right questions to ask before starting a job.
They require minimal direction, which frees up your time
They know editorial best practices, which will deliver the best product, and most efficiently
Less experienced writers and editors often do not recognize improvements to publications that are immediately apparent to experienced consultants. Not only that, too often inexperienced writers and editors:
Underestimate the time it takes to do the job
Take longer to do the job, which can result in missed deadlines
Bottom line: By considering value over price, you avoid the risk of more expensive overhauls or repairs once the job is done.
TRAP NO. 2: Neglecting to Do Your Due Diligence
You may have an urgent need to engage one or more editorial consultants, and the best time was….yesterday!
Occasionally, you get lucky and find a prospective consultant through someone you trust. They say they can vouch for the person’s work. Should you just go with the person?
From my own experience assembling editing teams and working on them, I might proceed, but with some caution:
Your work is uniquely yours with its own set of requirements.
A prospective candidate can look fantastic on paper or perform well for another person’s job requirement. And they may not be the best match for your needs right now.
My thoughts on expedient ways to perform due diligence:
Traditional reference checking, which can take some time
Asking for writing or editing samples similar to your current needs
Asking whether the candidate has a profile on professional social media sites such as LinkedIn.
A thorough profile can contain much more information than you would find on a typical resume. Some writers and editors even have blogs and/or portfolios of their work.
Testimonials on LinkedIn are a great way to gain employer and client insight into a candidate’s experience, skills, and expertise. Between the lines, you can read the “intangibles” such as work ethic and attitude.
Scheduling a Zoom chat (or a chat on another platform where you can see the person). It’s the next best thing to face to face, which is getting harder to come by.
Zoom calls allow you to do a deep dive into the project’s needs and more efficiently answer a consultant’s questions than emails.
When I meet with prospective clients online, we know whether we have a good vibe!
By the end of the call, you should be able to answer:
Does this candidate seem to have the skills and qualifications to do the job?
Do they appear genuinely interested in the work?
Does their personality match with yours?
Are you comfortable with their communication style?
TRAP NO. 3: Failing to Execute a Consulting Agreement
If you have been in business for any length of time and work with consultants, it’s probably safe to say you’ve developed boilerplate consulting agreements reviewed by your esteemed attorneys. Generally, they cover standard elements such as:
The consultant’s responsibilities and scope of work
Quality standards
Deadlines for all deliverables and services
Maximum hours allocated for the project
Procedures for notifying the client if consultant foresees the need to exceed the number of hours allocated
Invoicing and payment procedures
Potential conflicts of interest
Expectations for keeping company and project information confidential
In the rush of a project deadline and the need to jumpstart work, it can be difficult to push a consulting agreement through the different layers of your organization. A slight delay in getting the agreement to your consultant may not be the end of the world. Especially, if there is long-standing trust between you and the consultant.
It’s unrealistic, though, to expect a consultant to provide a deliverable without a signed agreement in place! I allowed this to happen in my greener years once. After I was not paid for my work (oddly with someone I’d worked with reliably many times before who had suddenly become insolvent), I had learned my lesson!
One thing that occasionally gets overlooked in consulting agreements is clear contingencies.
Always include a termination clause and deadline for canceling the agreement and a clear statement of payment policies if it becomes necessary to terminate the consultant. Even with your due diligence, the consultant you engage with might not meet expectations.
Contingency clauses allow you to cut your losses. They protect you in instances where the consultant’s work performance may be exemplary, but they are facing an unavoidable emergency that precludes them from completing the work. In those scenarios, you may be able to figure out a win-win situation.
TRAP NO. 4: Not Paying Your Consultant on Time
The biggest complaint I’ve ever heard from editorial consultants, which extends to any type of consultant, is the frustration they feel when clients don’t pay them on time.
No long explanation is needed as to why consultants need to be paid according to the terms agreed upon in the consulting agreement. It’s simple: your consultant has the same predictable monthly bills as your employees and vendors.
Nothing says “we value you and your work” better than a check delivered on time.
